Just Be You
by Kenneth Black
Summary: You're too irresistable for your own damn good. :: And my feelings for her, then beyond friendship, then beyond the bond of a partner, grew.


A/N: *grin* Another old fic, touched up. Hmmm, I really seem to like taking it in first-person stride today. ^^ Ah, well. I personally think the characters are OOC, especially Rei, but then, seemingly most of my take on Rei Hino turns out to be that way. =3 I keep trying to test myself in pairing these two up with other characters, but then I just can't do it. Hahahaha. Nah, I'm not even gonna do that. Well, yet. ^^

DISCLAIMER: These are getting shorter and shorter. Ah, well. ^^ Sailor Moon don't belong to me, it and its characters belong to the thankful creation by Naoko Takeuchi.

**Just Be You**

Damn it all to hell.

How, pray tell, HOW do you expect me to get any kind of action resembling work done with you in my lap all curled up and sleeping like a baby? Don't mock me, blondie. I know _exactly _what you're up to.

You think I'm exerting myself, making myself irritable and mean. Yeah, well, guess what?

You're right, you're absolutely right. Because when something's buggin me I've got to relieve that stress, let it out, and you. . you. .!

You're too damn irresistable for your own damn good.

Rats, Grandpa's gonna skin me alive for cursing in my shrine robes. But I can't HELP it, someone's got to help ME, she's on my lap, a-agh! I'm dying, I can't breathe, she's the one who stole my ability to think straight.

Heh, straight.

Hmmm. . . . .

She's so warm. . .

000000000000000000000000000

Rei Hino was an emotional wreck by the time I actually really fell asleep.

I mean, c'mon, the girl was practically hyperventilating as I oh-so-innocently plopped myself in front of my best friend and gradually scooted backwards between her legs. It was hot, let me tell you, sitting in front of the Sacred Fire, but get this- it was even hotter behind me, the agitated Senshi of Fire living up to her name as she blushed hot as a bed of steaming hot coals.

Those strong thighs were trembling around my hips, then my waist and shoulders as I leaned back and curled inwards on her. I about burned the tips of my toes until that stubborn pride of hers snapped and she crabwalked backwards, her breathing heavy and strained.

I knew she would do this, out of embarrassment or concern for me being fried like steak, and I kicked myself back, crabwalking right along with her. That small growl was so adorable, so I turned around and gave her my own most adorable smile, chock full of appreciative goofiness.

I'm sure the floor felt smooth on the bottom of her miko robes as she kept scooting backwards.

"Get off of me, Minako."

I grin at that, giving my whole body a backwards shake as Rei finally hit the far wall, making her shudder.

"Oh? I'm on top of you now, am I? Heh, no, don't squirm, Rei-chan, I'm your best buddy who even seen you naked in the hotsprings, same as the others. It's raining outside, and you're the only thing I can cuddle up to here."

The delicious dark-haired miko sighed, and I could picture that torn expression of pained amusement on her face. There was a comfortable shifting as Rei relaxed and leaned back, her posture slumped against the wall.

". . . I know you well enough than to invite you into my room where's you'll squeeze the stuffing out of my pillows, so I'm going to tell you to go home when it stops raining."

I can only roll my eyes at her statement.

"Rei-chan, your grandpa would be ashamed of your lack of hospitality."

Another shifting; this time Rei groaned under her breath.

"Mina-chan, you ran here from your house in the rain and are now using me for a heater today yourself! I'd say that's pretty hospitable of me."

"Yup, but not hospitable enough. Tell me this- would you have invited me into your lap if I didn't crawl in there?"

I could feel her flush indignantly, then squirm, trying to get to her feet. In an effort to sound her old dignified self, she calmly looked down at me and gave me the best present I could ever ask for: her eyes.

Dark chocolate swirls that gradually strengthened in darkness to a deep black, circling the orbs.

"No."

What if I had hypothermia and we were stuck underground in an ice cave?"

Exasperation colored her voice, but I knew she had given up when she rolled those beautiful dark eyes and nodded, her cheeks coloring. I knew Rei would try to pass that off as the heat in the shrine, but of course the Senshi of Fire felt as comfortable in a sauna as she would a sleeping bag or lying flat on a tatami mat in the middle of winter.

"Yes, Minako. I would obviously ask you to come into my lap- even something with more sense, I'd melt the whole cavern and we could float out to surface where we fell through. If I fired up good, heck, we could even make a hotsprings ourselves."

I smiled, then.

"Thanks, Rei-chan."

She squirmed again, trying to get to her feet. Grinning, I flopped to my belly and grabbed her hips, stilling her movements and looking up into that dark gaze. Rei audibly gulped, and I could feel my own face heating as I felt her heat sear into my chest, into that blazing fire of longing I had for my best friend.

Fine, I wasn't 'normal', I wasn't 'straight'.

But then, who would be if they saw Rei Hino's secret smile, the one she only smiled when she thought she'd made something of herself that day, and only at night, when no one would be able to see.

But I saw.

That one time, where I was so blasted sleepy I couldn't count a sheep if I was holding it by the scruff of the neck. And Rei smiled.

I was on my last blink before I would conk out for the night, I was so tired from fighting youma. Rei had fried every one that had taken one look at Usagi, and others that hadn't. She'd been on fire, her fighting spirit lit with her soul's flame as she protected the one who would rule the Moon Kingdom.

Sailor Mars had more than earned her worth.

And as the lights went out in Georgia that night, so to speak, Rei had tucked me into my futon by her bed and smiled. I'd dreamed of the past, then. As I woke up the next morning, Rei had already gone to start her miko duties, but I knew one thing.

She and I had been lovers back then, back in the past.

My past.

Her past.

We'd shared the same bed, the same feelings, and had been the best of friends, as we are now. But something in today's life seemed to be missing, something that had eluded me until I'd dreamt of her, of me, of us, that night.

And my feelings for her, then beyond friendship, then beyond the bond of a partner, grew.

It was that night I finally realized that I was in love with my best friend Rei Hino.

000000000000000000000000

A/N: I ended that abruptly and have officially ((in this fic)) ignored the whole 'keep it in the same timeline and make it easy to follow' rule. *grin* Aw, well. I'll PROBABLY add something to this later, but as of now, I'll just say it's complete. Like, hanging complete, since it's not even close to finished or understandable. ^^


End file.
